Late Night on a Boat

Eric and I had a blast on the catamaran trip Friday night with some of his classmates. We set sail around 6 pm, sailed the Caribbean waters to the Sister Island, Nevis, partied on Nevis for 3 hours, and then returned to Port Zante around 1 am. We had a great time and it was good for Eric to finally hang out with his classmates outside of class. Here are a few pictures from that night...

Our catamaran, Irie Lime. Irie meaning Good, Lime meaning to Party. We had a lime'n good time. It is the middle cat, in the background.

Eric and a few of his classmates who donned tropical attire for the event.

There was a Texas flag nailed to the ceiling of the bar on Nevis, so we decided to take a group photo with it. Chris' head is the white star.

Bar on Nevis. We were too scared to order the two good chickens. Instead, we settled for 2 Caribs, while we drank it fast, but rushed slowly...and we didn't meet a stranger.

Almost to Midsemester

As week 6 of second semester comes to a close, we will celebrate Eric finishing his first round of tests on a boat. That's right, we are taking a sunset cruise on the Catamaran, Irie Lime, with around 60 of Eric's classmates! The Cat leaves port around 6 pm and with a stop at Nevis, and then we should be back to port around midnight. I am so excited to spend a night out with Eric and all of his friends.

Below I have posted pictures that I took a few weeks ago. It is a small assortment of days/events we experience here on the island.

A view from Lindsay's place. The white condos below the hill are where Eric and I live.

small fishing boat in the Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean: the Mariott is in the distance

the group of Kittitians surrounding the fire were filming a music video while we were playing volleyball. i wish i could have gotten a video of their music video. priceless

Chris and I at his birthday celebration

Louisa, Linds and Me

i took this picture from campus one evening when picking up Eric after one of his long days. the sunset over the Caribbean never gets old.

my fave

A Potluck of Pictures

Because I have an assortment of random pictures, I will let them do the explaining of what's been going on this week on de island.

First off, Eric left for school on Monday morning before I woke up. As I lethargically ambled into the living room with my coffee in hand, I noticed Max poking his nose at something near the couch. At first, I didn't think anything of it, and sat down with my morning coffee. BUT, Max was very interested in something near the cooler (normally he is jumping all over me in the morning) so I was curious and stood to see what captivated his attention. This is what I found...See Below

A GINORMOUS centipede, in our apartment!! YIKES! So, I couldn't call Eric because he was already on campus. I got in touch with Lindsay and her husband, Matt, just happened to be heading to school and was right by our apt. So Matt arrived to my doorstep to the rescue with a cinder block. He knocked it off the cooler and it charged at him. It then took 3 poundings of the cinder block to kill the sucker. See Below...

Never a dull moment.

On a better note, here we are, just a few VIPs hanging out at Elvis' bar on the beach strip playing YAHTZEE!

This picture was taken on Friday after our third volleyball victory, which brings our record to 3-0. Elvis, our mascot, made the picture front and center. We are striking the VIPER pose.

AHH! Finally I get to my beach chair! Mom and Dad bought this chair for me for Christmas, and I just received it in the mail this past week. You may wonder, a beach chair, why is that so exciting?! But it is, because as crazy as it may sound, you cannot purchase beach chairs anywhere on this island!! (I purchased the umbrella here.) Max and I have enjoyed going to the beach right by our apartment in the mornings...I read, Max hunts for sand crabs.

We generally have the beach to ourselves, except for the few stragglers who walk up and down the beach for exercise.

He owns this beach now.

It got a little warm for him one morning, but was soon content after a dip into the Atlantic Ocean.

On Saturday, while Eric study, I decided to partake in another hash hike. This one was designated as the red dress hash for valentine's day. The pictures below will explain it all.

This is where everyone gathered before the hash, at Godfather's Bar.

The Godfather's dog was serving cold beer to the hashers! (ha)

A parade of dresses

I of course chose to take the walking path. We hiked for a total of around 1.5 hours.

And here we go...

views as we hiked up the hill

looking down to where we started

shot looking back toward Baseterre. The haziness is actually volcanic ash from a neighboring island south of St. Kitts...numerous flights to and from St. Kitts have been cancelled this week due to the volcano.

looking down at Friar's beach,

which we will soon have to walk across on the last leg of our hash

my two hashing buddies, Scott and Kevin...they weren't afraid

Last night, Eric and I went to a gourmet French restaurant, Le Belle Vie, to celebrate Valentine's Day. Eric had the pleasure of starting his dog walking duties on campus this morning (yes, on valentines). He will have to walk 3 dogs, morning and afternoons, for 7 days straight, at 15 minutes each (and they can't be walked together). I intend to help him out some this week. The school designates dog walking responsibilities to 2nd semester students. These dogs (some with medical issues) are the ones that are rescued and quarantined for so many days, before being put up for adoption.

Eric has an Immunology exam on Wednesday, so he will be on campus today from 7:30 am to 6 pm. Looks like I will be spending most of the day with my other Valentine, Max-a-Million.

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Free From Quarantine!

This post is dedicated to our beach dog, Max. He has met his 30 days of quarantine in our apartment, and is now free to roam about the island. Yesterday Eric and I met up with some of the girls in his semester at Gong beach. Their large breed dogs, Charlie and Sampson, were finally off of quarantine status as well. Max loves the beach, loves the sand, and LOVES chasing after the big dogs into the open water to fetch a toy. He definitely shows no fear to the water, especially when he has to try and show up the bigger dogs. The first 4 pics are on the beach right by our apartments. Check out Max on the beach below!

So Happy

Gong: Big Beach, Little Dog

Eric rescuing Max from a wave...He swam out that far

Little Man Syndrome

Ottley's Plantation & More

Hello Friends!

Week four has been super busy for both Eric and me. He had two tests this week and did really well on them. I am PROUD to say (and he will probably kill me for writing this, but o well)...Eric made the Dean's List for 1st semester! This is such a great accomplishment, considering how hard the classes are here, and I am just thrilled that he met this goal (even though it wasn't the President's list that he was trying so hard for). The time and effort he put into his studies has definitely paid off in grades, and he is already on the right path to meet this goal for second semester.

While he has been busy studying and taking tests, I have been exploring and enjoying the island life! Tuesday, our volleyball team met at Timothy beach for volleyball practice. Wednesday, I went with Lindsay and her mom to Caribelle Batik, and then Ottley's Plantation for lunch. Thursday the VIPs had a Nacho/Frito Pie fundraiser on campus. There were students and spouses who didn't even know what a FRITO PIE was! We introduced this delicious Southern ballpark delicacy to many curious Northerners.

Back to our Wednesday agenda...originally a 17th century sugar plantation, Ottley's is situated on 35 acres of rolling lawns and gardens in the foothills of Mt. Liamuiga (St. Kitts dormant volcano). www.ottleys.com. The vegetation and scenery at Ottley's plantation was serene and breathtaking. Below you will see pictures of this historical hide-away overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Mt. Liamuiga

Driving up to Ottley's

Ottley's Inn

View of the pool and the Atlantic Ocean in the distance

Cottage of the Inn

Tropical vegetation at it's finest..Coconut rum anyone?!

Love this! It has to be at least 15 years old.

the tropical gardens are astounding

more cottages

the restaurant, constructed out of the old sugar can mill

RUM PUNCH!

Liquid Paradise

an origami holder for my leftover sandwich, Kittitian style.

i had the grilled chicken sandwich with fried plantains that were soaked in butter and brown sugar and lightly fried. D-Lish

this was taken the day before at Timothy Beach...the yacht anchored here to watch our volleyball practice...at first we thought it might be Tiger Woods, but then realized his pour soul is in sex rehab in Mississippi, and his yacht, PRIVACY, is probably triple the size of this one (to hold more women of course)...O, that reminds me of a joke I heard today. Lions don't cheat on their wives, but a TIGER WOOD. :) ok, I promise that was the last dig at the greatest golf player that ever was, who is now no longer playing.

Our volleyball team minus 2 people...this picture was taken after our 1st victory last Friday. this evening we will be taking on a new team.

the VIPERS will strike again!

Eric will take some time off this evening to enjoy beach volleyball, but will hit the books hard tomorrow and Sunday morning for his Anatomy II exam on Monday. We then plan to go to our friends house (who are from New Orleans) for the superbowl, Cajun Style. On the menu...Etoufee and Jambalaya! GEAUX SAINTS!